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 This is among Ozzy's best! Jan 22, 2008
Why do elitists think that evolving means selling out? I mean, this album is nearly perfect, the only track I didn't like was Silver. But the album manages to rock out and be highly listenable at the same time.
Metalheads will never get it. "Mainstream" does not mean you become some N*Sync clone, spewing out pop pablum that has all been written for you and your voice is enhanced with studio tricks. Ozzy will never be that.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Pretty Weak Sep 07, 2007
You know a song is good when it catches your ear from the first...I remember when I first heard Over The Mountain on the radio and immediately took notice...Zakk Wylde has written some good tunes on previous albums but he's no Randy Rhoads as a soloist or songwriter...many of his solos are simply a mad pentatonic speed drill(if you play guitar you know what I'm talking about) which is just not interesting. Randy wrote some of the tastiest solos ever, us guitar players already know that. I just listened to this album and there's nothing on it to write home about...I liked Ozzmosis but this album and the one before it are duds.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Get it b/c you're a fan but it's not what you'd expect Sep 06, 2007
That is why I bought the album 2 months ago, because I'm a huge fan of Ozzy, Zakk and all the music in the Oz/Sabbath/BLS catalogue. I am only going to speak in general terms since this is just an opinion-review but as a semi-professional musician with years of experience & critical ears for all areas of music I promise you there are no falsehoods here as writing this review was almost as painful as listening to this album all the way through.
What disappointed me and will most certainly disappoint other fans is that this is NOT a guitar-heavy record as Ozzy Osbourne albums traditionally are and, thusly, does not have the muscle or steady rocking prowess we have grown to expect. There are 3-4 tunes that do have some grinding riffs and decent 'punch' to them but when the chorus of the song comes around or you expect something cool to happen you get blasted with keyboards... KEYBOARDS and some mighty lame lyrics as well. To be frank I can gaurandamntee you Zakk Wylde wasn't within 1,000 miles of the control room where this was mixed b/c if he was you would have read in the papers about an engineer/producer getting his head ripped off... man, if I had played my butt off on a record only to have my tracks squashed in favor of keyboards and backing aural sounds on the final mix I would go absolutely ballistic. I want to blame the producer/s and any cowriters/assistants here because this is NOT how an Ozzy album should EVER be written or mixed, not in a million years. Ozzy had to approve and sign off on it though so the toughest part is answering the question "who's fault was it?". It almost sounds like a couple of guys getting stupid with a Pro Tools system recording at somebody's house on a weekend b/c the drums are good on some tracks and sound pretty bad on others, guitars have decent tones but are pushed back way too much overall to the point where the solos are barely audible at times, vocals are well-compressed and cleanly done but lyrically and composition-wise it's about as interesting as a Green Day album. Back to the core here... remember how 'Crazy Train' 'Mr. Crowley' and 'Bark at the Moon' were driving guitar riffs that carried the songs with blazing solos? You won't get but an ounce of that here, in fact you'll find yourself skipping through songs as I was after the 1st three muttering "what the hell is this? where is the good stuff?". Sorry to harp on the guitar issues as I've played for nearly 18 years now, but Ozzy's entire career has been driven by his guitar players and Black Rain is nearly a complete departure from that. It's practically a joke.
Overall the songwriting is weak, the song 'Allmighty Dollar' is one of THE stupidest things I have ever heard... it's literally as if Ozzy is doing a Joe Walsh impersonation and, nothing against Joe Walsh at all, but Ozzy should be doing OZZY eh? At times I thought he may have been talked into or forced to do certain things like doing a completely weak chorus on 'Countdown's Begun' making it useless, forgettable and hook-free. Or maybe he was coerced into doing mixes and song ideas a certain way that was outside his realm or comfort-zone, kind of like what has happened to Rush over the years where the in-your-face rock sound gave way to the chorus-laden reverb-drenched balladesque fluff. Sad but true.
To sum it up I love Ozzy through and through but will have a very hard time forgiving him for releasing this. For the love of God don't walk into a music store and pay the typical $[...] full price for this album, buy it on Amazon for the cheapest price you can find as I did, that way you'll only be half as mad :o) Seriously folks, when you take this many years to do a new album it should at least be a good one and Black Rain misses the mark by a country mile.
 Get the JAPAN IMPORT CD with EXTRA TRACKS! Sep 02, 2007
I recommend getting this Japan Import CD rather than the US Release CD.. I don't know why the U.S. Release CD did not include the other 2 bonus tracks on this album. I do admit though, Track 11 (In the Import Japan CD Release) "I Can't Save You" would be a GREAT CD OPENER. It's FAST and HEAVY! Same with Track 12 "Nightmare." Another good HARD ROCK 80's sound. It's ashame that it's not in the U.S. CD Release and you'll have to pay a little more to get those two songs. But it's worth it! GET THE JAPAN IMPORT! It's worth paying just a little extra for the two bonus songs. If don't get the Japan Import CD you'll always wonder how the other two extra tracks sound like. GET THE JAPAN IMPORT CD!
Best Ozzy Album Since "Tears" Sep 01, 2007
When I got this, I popped it in and was impressed that the old man can still do it. It's his best since No More Tears and I Don't Wanna Stop RULES!
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